1.My night time mouth care routine. 2. Brushing too hard = stressful thoughts? 3.And self challenge!

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Thoughts from a dental hygienist

Miscellaneous


My current night time routine of caring for my teeth and mouth, considering the WHY behind “why am I brushing my teeth so hard right now??” And a challenge of actually DOING all the things on my OWN teeth that I recommend to patients. *I’m curious what would happen if I followed the recommendations I currently say to my patients at my dental office to a ‘T’ for 30 days... Would that have a significant effect on the health of my mouth and gums. **What do my patients (MY patients. I say this all throughout the day but typing it out sounds more... like I “own them.” Like... own them-own them. ...which I don’t. Obvs. Anyway...) ACTUALLY think about as I’m doing “patient education?” Like.. some people really dig it and enjoy the education and others seem to feel it more like nagging or.. rather... “uh huh... uh huh...” while at the back of their heads they don’t believe of feel an urgency to start flossing consistently. Or others and are inspired and happy. ***Sharing my thoughts on when I recommend an Oral-B electric tooth brush, when I recommend Sonicares, or a manual tooth brush. And hearing yours. ****Explaining how brushing my teeth hard feels... good? sometimes. And pausing to recognize “what was I just thinking about that was causing me anxiety/stress?” as a way to take ownership of anxiety and learn about yourself. Your body is trying hard to communicate with you. It wants to help! But it comes through as stress because it’s hard to look at head on- things that are bringing discomfort to our lives, and then what is the opposite of that thing then? And instead of dwelling on the dark, stress and ...fears, and our “lacking,” we focus on the thing we actually want and would hope for in our lives if we let ourselves. This can be deep or simple. Simply catching yourself in a frenzied state and choosing to brush slowly and more intentionally again. Over and over. I often stretch and do yoga type motions while I’m brushing so I can naturally be in a calmer state and slow down- with brushing, and with LIFE. *****good night y’all. (...I guess it’s just four tonight. Four. Great. Thoughts.)